Health chiefs have criticised a Newton Abbot dental practice, claiming thousands of patients could have been given the impression they had to go private.

The El-Nashar practice has contacted all its health service patients saying a 12-year-old contract with the health service was ending.

A letter and brochure explained the benefits of private healthcare but failed to include details of how pat- ients could find another NHS dentist.

The move has been criticised by NHS Devon, whose managers claimed it was motivated by profit.

From June 1 anyone wanting treatment at the award-winning El-Nashar practice in Courtenay park will have to sign up to a plan costing between £60-£140 per year.

Fees as high as £76.50 for a filling and £180 for an extraction would also be charged.

There are no surgeries in town currently accepting new NHS registrations.

One patient, who asked not to be named, said: 'I just can't afford to go private. If I can't find another NHS dentist I don't know what I'll do. it's a nightmare.'

Practice manager Sharon El-Nashar said 'a few thousand' patients had been contacted and defended the move l From page 1

on the grounds of maintaining ­ standards.

'This has been a difficult decision and one we have thought long and hard about,' she said.

'However, the government has put a two-year freeze on its payments for NHS work and what with rising costs of VAT, materials and staff, we simply would be unable to maintain the customer and care standards we have worked hard to achieve.

'And besides a lot of people have been ringing in very positively saying they want to stay.'

Mrs El-Nashar denied the NHS contact number for patients wanting to stay with the health service had been omitted from the letter in an attempt to pick up business.

'Absolutely not,' she said. 'When people call up we are offering the number and they are absolutely free to leave. we are perfectly happy if they want to stay with the NHS.

'By not putting the number in the letter we were also helping to slow down the influx of calls to the NHS.'

Andrew Harris, who commissions dentistry services for NHS Devon, said: 'We are obviously very disappointed that the dental practice has chosen to treat patients privately from June 1.

'We've spent many years building dentistry services in Newton Abbot and the rest of south Devon. It is always a bitter blow when practices turn their back on significant numbers of NHS patients.

'I feel particularly disappointed about the way the practice has chosen to let patients know about their decision so that many patients may feel they have no option but to go private.

'If former patients of the El-Nashar Dental Care practice wish to remain with an NHS dentist we will pull out the stops to make sure they do.

'At least three dental practices in or near the Teignbridge area are open to NHS patients at the moment and we have arranged for additional capacity in Newton Abbot from April 1 onwards so by the time the practice sheds it NHS patients we will be in a position to offer them all alternative places.

'But this will be cold comfort for those thousands of patients who joined the practice because it was an NHS dentist and they are bound to feel let down to some extent.'

He added: 'We are determined that no one should be disadvantaged as a result of what is a business decision by this practice.'

To find a NHS dentist call 0845 002 0034 or 01392 822 348 or email [email protected]">[email protected].